Bee’ah in plastic recycling push

Sharjah, July 25, 2011

Bee’ah, an integrated environmental and waste management company, has set out plans to create awareness among people on the need to recycle plastics.

The UAE lead the world in per capita consumption of bottled water, according to a report by the Worldwatch Institute. An estimated 275 litres are consumed annually per person in the UAE, which is comfortably the highest consumption rate in the world.

This makes up approximately between 350 to 450 bottles of water that go to waste by each person every year, of which only a small percentage of them end up being recycled.

As it turns out, many UAE residents dispose their used plastics in the general waste stream, which make up 10 per cent of the total waste that ends up in landfills. Once recovered by waste management efforts, they are found to be unclean and cannot be reused.

As a result, 400 tonnes of recycled plastic are being imported per month by several companies which require this important commodity to supply their operations.

A recent research by Bee’ah found that one of the highest contributors to the present recycling levels has been plastic with a 700 per cent increase from the first quarter of the year 2010 to that of 2011. A total of 1,649 tonnes of PET plastic and 1,693 tonnes of mixed plastic were recovered from the general municipal waste stream generated by the city of Sharjah in 2010. Bee’ah estimates that there could be up to 5 to 6 times more plastic that could be recycled in Sharjah if it were disposed of properly by the community.

"There is a growing demand by UAE companies to use recycled plastic materials, but unfortunately due to a lack of clean plastic bottles and containers as well as waste-scavenging, there is an insufficient supply of recycled plastic in our country,” explained Khaled Al Huraimel, chief executive officer of Bee’ah.

“To solve this issue, Bee’ah has already installed pedestrian 3-stream recyclers across Sharjah, as well as a recycling depot in Al Qasba to encourage residents to bring in their recyclables. We are also in the process of rolling out numerous other initiatives and infrastructure projects that aim to facilitate the community’s adoption of recycling as a habit that is easy and convenient to all. Additionally Bee’ah is also undertaking various activities to spread environmental awareness throughout the emirate,” he said. - TradeArabia News Service